Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-10-04
AN OLD rAkeR.s STORY.
How Professional kascals swindie super
stItious Country Peouia

scribers TO n family Bible, and some
times he is selling county rights to
manufacture churn or cheese-prcss.
lie enters populous and wealthy
neighborhood, secures board at the
nearest inn, or with some leading far
mer, and while seeming to push his
business he is making cautious and par
ticular inquiries. He finds who is all
ing, and what the complaint; who has
lost money or stock in mysterious
way; who is inclined to superstition.
and in what particular direction; who
has lost relatives and whether they
were old or young, good or bad He
picks up and jots down in memo
randum-boolS - perfect encyclopedias of
facts and incidents, and the book is
sent to me at point and at a time
agreed upon. / am working another
neighborhood, and some weeks after he
has passed out of sight and mind | sud-
denly appear upon the scene, / reach
the farm house of John Smith about
dark, and arrange to stay over night.
After supper ask him about his sister
years before; about the horse which
was stolen from his barn on the night
OF September 81, 1879; about the light
ming striking his barn in 1880; about
his mother falling out of wagon and
breaking her leg twenty ne years be-
fore, and so on and so on, proving, to
the unbounded establishment of the
family, that l am entirely conversant
with their history. How did l know
all these thingsp / am the seventh son
of seventh son, and it all came to me
as / entered the gate.
"Ihat's the starter, my dear boy, and
it never fails to catch on. / am en-
treated to tell where that horse went
to; whether there isn't treasure buried
on the farm; what member of the fam
lly is to 60 next; when the hog cholera
will appear next, and so on and so
forth. My terms are from S25 to 5000,
according to the guliibility of the vic
tim and his ability to fork over the
needful. If he simply wants the past
and future, l can accommodate him for
about $25. If lie wants to know any
thing about burie treasure, l set my
figures at high-water mark Out of,
say twenty families in neighborhood,
| eighteen will want my services and pay
me well for them, and | will live in
clover for couple of weeks
But about the buried treasurer
"Oh, that's all right. In every pop
ulous country, no matter what State il
is in, there are legends of treasure
| buried by the Indians or by robbers
My partner fixes all that. He picks III
an old Mexican dollar in some door
yard or barnyard, and asserts that i
must have been q portion of some
treasure buried many years before.
never saw a farmer yet who couldn
be convinced that he owned farm
with pot of gold and silver waiting t.
be dug up. We bought $500 worth o
old gold and silver coin in New Yorl
as starter. My partner has two o
three ancient-loek ne pots and jug
among his baggage, and he manages t.
make burial som .where in each goo(
workable neighborhood. 1t is cl Sc t.
some prominent object and l have NJ
difficulty in pointing out the place
When it is profitable to work the treas
ure racket | 90 into Il trance, and Sc
three pots or jugs full of money unde
ground. One is more accessible thai
the others, but contains by far tn
smallest sum of money. That can b
found in half an Ii ur; the others vii
require days of careful search and dig
ging. If the farmer comes to IN
terms l locate Il pot containing fror
$40 to 500 He finds the pot and tn
money is in it. If the one pot is Their
why shouldn't the other two bep Tn
one find excites all his cupidity, and h
is ready to believe any story my tel
him. The treasure racket is worke
only when am about to leave hcigl
borhood."
And you impose on people in TIL
maunerP'
Sorry to say that we do, but til
people themselves are to blame for /
ANY one of sense ought to know that
/ is imposition. have great luck in tino
inc stolen or lost articles If Il hors
mas Dttll SlOltli, 1 lOllpM liiiii iiito Sum
other county, and locate him on 4 give
farm | give the name Of The thief an
locate him. This is also done just b.
fore leave, for reasons which will
, apparent, A very singular iAcidei
occurred to me in Indiana last summe
was in ncighborhood where ric
old lady had lost $40, 900 in bonds an
iewelry. The box had been taken oil
9 of her house during her absence, an
t there was absolutely no clue to IL
= robber. She offered me 5000 to reco'
: er the property. | knew | couldn q
= it, but she hung on and was so urgel
Y that to get rid of her | went into
a trance and saw the box in the loft
|. an old loo house which | remembers
$ seeing en- the highway four or five mil
e from her house. | told her that if Il
: box had been removed from there
y was during Il thunderstorm, at whi'
5 time could not see. Well, take II
. head for a football if she didn't send
N man off on Il horse that very eyenln
y and inside of an hour he was back wi
> the box! Yes, sir, found it exact
where | said it was; and the old lac
- counted me out $500 in the cleane
~ L;,J Of rraanb,cl<s NV stock in tn